


Trial and Error

by PottersLily



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1873683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PottersLily/pseuds/PottersLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Evans,' he grinned 'you're staring.' <br/>'No I'm not.' she replied crossly. <br/>'Trust me, after years of girls falling all over me for my charm and good looks; I know a stare when I see one.' </p>
<p>The Marauders reach their 6th year at Hogwarts, and the wizarding world is getting darker by the day. Sides will be chosen and lives will be lost.</p>
<p>LE/JP romance, gets darker, basically a huge pre-potter headcanon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Good Student

It was past midnight and the fire in the Gryffindor common room still glowed weakly, the grey ash was littered with red coals which were the only source of heat. The room was almost silent – completely deserted except for the hunched figure of a student and the gentle scratch of a quill.

Lily's eyes burned from fatigue as the quill in her hand dropped onto the desk in front of her. She felt her shoulders sag and her head roll towards her chest but she denied herself the luxury of scrunching up into a ball and succumbing to sleep. 'Just a few more hours,' she thought 'a few more hours and I can curl up in my nice warm bed. Maybe I'll ask the house elves to bring me up some cocoa.' She picked up her quill. 'It's all bloody McGonagall's fault,' she dropped her quill again. 'What kind of sadist sets 6 rolls of parchment on the theoretical transfiguration of goats?'

She leaned over, resting her forehead on the desk. 'I'll just close my eyes for a few seconds,' she thought.

'Evans! Oh Evaaaans' Lily liked the sound of that voice. It was warm and mellow, kind of sweet but also gruff at the same time; the voice was melodic and smooth yet she knew it could be gravelly and even grating when it was angry or stressed. It seemed strange, really, that she should know so much about how the voice felt from the slightest change in tone… 'Evans, as delightful as you look with your nose covered in ink I must inform you that your 5 page essay (five pages, Evans, seriously?) looks decidedly less delightful when it's illegible'

Lily jerked upright. Sure enough she had somehow managed to upset a bottle of ink all over her Transfiguration essay. 'Shit… Shit! This took me ages! Oh God, it's ruined, you can't read anything, I'm going to have to start all over again!' She started frantically dabbing at the sodden role of parchment, desperately trying to salvage the masterpiece (and it had been a masterpiece) that she had just spent the last four hours of her life completing. Whirling around to grab her wand, Lily managed to knock three heavy textbooks and yet another ink bottle flying off the table, narrowly avoiding smashing into a very amused James Potter.

'Evans,' he laughed, grabbing her by the upper arms and turning her to face him 'maybe you should calm down.'

'Potter this bloody essay took me longer than all of the work you've ever done in your life!' she growled.

He raised his eyebrows, 'ouch, I was going to offer to help you out but maybe I should just leave you to it.' His grip on her arms did not loosen.

'I'm sorry,' she sighed 'I shouldn't have said that.'

He grinned. 'It's alright Evans; you know I can't stay mad at you when you've got your sleepy head on.' Lily suddenly became very aware of the fact that she looked a mess; a bright red halo of bed-hair surrounded her face, flattened slightly on one side from the desk, and she was pretty sure that she was covered in ink. She blushed slightly and looked down, not before catching James' smirk. Grabbing his wand, James quickly set right the mess on the desk, vanishing the spilled ink and sending the books soaring into a neat pile back on the table. Now only the soiled paper was left over. James picked it up gingerly, 'I hate to be the one to break it to you, Evans, but I don't think you're gonna be able to save this with a scouring charm.' He let it drop back onto the desk.

'Well that's my perfect record down the drain then,' Lily sighed, flopping back into the armchair too tired to really care.

'McGonagall will give you time to fix it…' he replied, sitting down next to her.

There was an awkward silence. Lily looked over at James, studying him discreetly. He was tall and leanly muscular from years of Quiddich playing. His perpetually messy hair seemed even more unruly tonight, as if he had been constantly running his fingers through it; he smelled nice too, kind of musky but there was also the hint of something clean like… peppermint? Pine?

'Evans,' he grinned 'you're staring.'

'No I'm not.' She replied crossly.

'Trust me, Evans, after years of girls falling all over me for my charm and good looks; I know a stare when I see one.'

'You're so full of it, Potter.'

'You love it, Evans.'

It was always like this between them: snappy one-liners from Lily and extravagant (and somewhat narcissistic) exclamations from James. Lily often acted like she hated him, and sometimes she did; he always had to be the loudest and the wittiest, he got laughs from playing on other people's insecurities and, honestly, he was downright cruel sometimes. She thought back to the day that James had hung Severus upside-down by his ankles and thrown hexes at him in front of everyone. Of course, Sev hadn't been entirely innocent; that was the day he had called her a mudblood and she'd never forgotten it, she never would.

James had thought he was protecting her that day. She didn't know how to tell him that she didn't need protecting; she was just as strong as him, she just didn't need to go around cursing people to prove it. He was trying to be kind, though, in his own weird way. She saw that kindness in him sometimes; when he thought no-one was looking. Once in a while he would drop his guard, the act would fall away and Lily could see him for what he was; when he was laughing with Sirius, or getting Peter Pettigrew out of one of those tight spots he always managed to squeeze himself into. She'd sometimes see him hunched over in an armchair in the corner of the common room, immersed in a good book; his normally perfectly messy hair hanging low over his face, hiding him away. He seemed so young to her, vulnerable even. That was the James Potter she liked, the one who didn't need to be anything or anyone other than himself.

'Lily,' James broke her out of her stupor, 'you haven't said anything for the last few minutes, are you alright?' he asked uncertainly.

'What? Yeah sorry I'm just tired,' she mumbled 'kind of dreading facing McGonagall tomorrow…'

'You'll be fine, Evans! Merlin only knows the last time Sirius handed in his transfiguration homework on time. There was this one time, Sirius and I –' he stopped abruptly.

'What?' Lily felt her eyes slip shut; she enjoyed just listening to him speak.

'It's nothing… I mean it wasn't nothing – it's not nothing, I just – I didn't get up in the middle of the night to talk to you about Sirius'

'His voice really is like a lullaby' Lily thought tiredly.

James cleared his throat, 'I actually wanted to ask you –'

'Ask me…' she repeated dreamily.

'The Yule Ball is in a few weeks and I-' he seemed to choke.

'A few weeks.'

'I know the last time I asked you out you told me to shove my wand somewhere that sounds pretty painful and potentially anatomically impossible but I thought it was worth another shot. So, what I'm really trying to say is – Evans are you asleep?'

'Not sleep' she mumbled.

'Evans, I was just about to pour my heart out to you and you're bloody sleeping!'

She didn't respond.

* * *

 

Sighing, James stood up and looked down at her. Lily's face was relaxed and her breathing was even. He smiled slightly in spite of himself and grabbed a blanket from a nearby armchair. Carefully, he covered Lily with it and smoothed her hair off her face. 'Next time, Potter,' he thought to himself as he crossed the room to the stairs to his dormitory. Just as he was about to climb up, he heard her voice.

'James,' she sighed without opening her eyes.

He turned to face her slightly, 'yeah?'

'You called me Lily.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** Hey guys, this is my first long fanfic and I'm really excited to see how it'll turn out! I hope you all like it! I'll update as often as possible if the story is popular.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the ideas or themes in this story - that's all J.K. Rowling


	2. A Rude Awakening

Lily lay with her eyes closed; curled awkwardly into the hunched ball she had slept in all night. Her head ached incessantly and her neck was definitely cricked. Altogether she felt like she had been trampled by a hoard of rabid hippogriffs. Not good.  
Her eyes slowly flickered open and she sat up, rubbing her face. Looking around, Lily realised that she had fallen asleep curled on an armchair by the fireplace – no wonder she felt like a steaming pile of dragon crap. She sighed in irritation, realising there was no way she was going to fall back to sleep now. The common room was quiet; there were no students tiredly trudging down to the great hall for breakfast or frantically searching for a missing sock or generally just getting ready for the morning’s lessons. In fact, it was almost too quiet. Lily unwillingly stood up and stretched her sore muscles, letting the blanket covering her drop to the floor. It was only then that she caught sight of the clock.

_‘Shit,’ Lily thought, ‘shit, bollocks, cock!’ _The clock read 9:15 – lessons had started fifteen minutes ago.__

__Lily hurtled up to her dormitory, throwing on the cleanest set of robes she could find while simultaneously trying to brush her teeth and hair. She gave up trying to tame the wild bird’s nest on her head and scraped it all back into a bun, without even bothering to attempt putting on makeup. Dashing back downstairs to the common room, she grabbed all of her textbooks and dumped them unceremoniously into her bag along with a few quills and some parchment. Suddenly she noticed her transfiguration paper. It was completely ruined, covered in ink without one legible word. Lily groaned inwardly but had no choice but to abandon the once-incredible essay and rush down to her first lesson.  
As she dashed down the stairs, Lily caught sight of herself in a mirror and immediately wished she hadn't. Her skin was pasty and there were huge bruised-looking bags under her eyes – she could just tell that today was going to be a disaster._ _

* * *

 

__James had seated himself in his usual seat at the back of the classroom next to Sirius and behind Evans. Well, he should have been behind Evans except for the fact her vibrant red hair (as well as the rest of her) was conspicuously missing._ _

__‘Has anyone seen Miss Evans?’ Professor McGonagall asked ‘It’s not like her to be late.’_ _

__‘She’s probably off snogging Snivellus somewhere.’ Sirius joked quietly. James dug him painfully in the ribs with his elbow. Sirius just barked a laugh. ‘Don’t worry mate, I reckon you could take him’_ _

__‘What was that, Mr Black?’ McGonagall snapped sharply._ _

__‘Nothing Professor,’ said Sirius seriously. ‘Just telling James how much I liked your new hat. Where’s it from? Wait don’t tell me… Madam Malkin’s I bet – finest hat maker I ever saw.’_ _

__McGonagall raised her eyebrows coolly, ‘I transfigured it from a raven actually, Mr Black, which is what you’ll all be learning to do today.’_ _

__‘Oh I dunno, Professor, it sounds a little bit cruel for my taste.’_ _

__‘I’m sure you’ll get over it.’ She snapped. ‘In fact, why don’t you come up here and show us all how it’s done.’_ _

__‘I don’t think I’m really –‘_ _

__‘NOW’ she barked._ _

__Sirius got up hastily and pulled out his wand. He made a great show of clearing his throat. Just as he was about to utter the spell, however, the classroom door burst open revealing a very breathless Lily Evans._ _

__‘I’m so sorry I’m late, Professor,’ Lily spluttered ‘I, er, got caught up.’_ _

__‘Sit down, Miss Evans,’ McGonagall replied curtly ‘we shall discuss this later. Ten points from Gryffindor.’_ _

__Evans blushed even redder and slipped quietly into her seat. James watched as she hastily pulled out her books and quill; she was breathing heavily, like she’d run all the way there. She also looked tired, James noted, her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head and there were dark circles under her eyes. In James’ opinion she still looked bloody good. Her pale skin was flushed, cheeks pink, and her lips looked quite red, like she had been biting them. That was a nervous habit she had, actually; James always knew when Evans was stressed by the way she chewed delicately on her lips._ _

__Leaning over, James whispered ‘Evans! Oi, Evans!’_ _

__‘What?’ she replied, turning to face him with a sigh._ _

__‘I like your hair like that,’ he grinned ‘you should put it up more often.’ She just rolled her eyes and turned back around._ _

* * *

 

__Lily massaged her neck as she watched Sirius Black make a complete prat out of himself trying to turn a raven into a hat. He was really very intelligent; perfectly capable of simple transfiguration like this, but for some reason he didn’t seem to want anyone to know just how good he was. Lily watched as he ‘accidentally’ engorged the raven to the size of a young dragon and sent it flying off, knocking Evan Rosier’s hat right off his head. Professor McGonagall, amidst gales of laughter from the rest of the class, yelled sharply at Black, deducting a further ten points from Gryffindor.  
Lily felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around._ _

__‘Evans,’ James tried again, smirking at her._ _

__‘What is it Potter? And don’t say anything about my hair; I already know I look a mess.’_ _

__‘Evans please give me some credit; I wasn’t going to say anything about your hair. The crazy look works for you.’ Outrageously, he winked._ _

__Lily scowled at him, ‘wow, thanks Potter.’ She said sarcastically._ _

__‘That’s okay, Evans;’ he grinned ‘I can think of a way you can repay me for the favor.’_ _

__‘I-'_ _

__‘What I’m asking, Evans – I mean, what I’m really trying to say is…’ James suddenly looked flustered; a blush had crept up his neck slightly. ‘Evans – Lily – I wanted to know if you’d like to-’_ _

__Just then Black flopped back into his seat next to James, grinning smugly. ‘Sorry Lily,’ he smiled unapologetically ‘I’m going to have to steal our dashing young James away from you for a moment, there’s something we need to discuss.’_ _

__‘Fine by me.’ Lily said shortly at the same time James said ‘We’re having a conversation.’_ _

__James looked hurt and glanced at Lily somewhat reproachfully. Lily surprised herself by feeling a pang of guilt at the wounded expression on his face._ _

__‘Sorry Prongs,’ Sirius replied casually ‘but we have to talk about Moony and his fluffy little problem.’_ _

__‘What, does he own a badly behaved rabbit or something?’ Lily snorted._ _

__James’ face grew guarded. ‘Something like that.’_ _

__Lily raised her eyebrows slightly but turned back to face the front where, upon attempting to turn her hat back into a bird, Rosia Patil had managed to somehow set it on fire. However, Lily could still hear snatches of Sirius and James’ conversation, which had taken a very interesting turn._ _

__‘…can’t expect him to stay cooped up in that shack.’ Lily heard Sirius say._ _

__‘It’s too dangerous… hurt someone.’ James replied._ _

__The two boys were talking in hushed tones but Lily managed to make out just two more words: ‘full moon’.  
Just as Lily was about to turn around and question James on his interest with the full moon, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and the class fell silent._ _

__‘I am very disappointed with this class today,’ she said grimly. ‘I expected better from students of your age group. You should all be setting an example for the younger students in the school, not acting like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons! I certainly hope that you have all remembered your essays on the theoretical transfiguration of goats; I would not like to be the person who neglected to complete theirs. However, I am sure that at least one of you decided that he or she had something better to do; please raise your hand if you have not completed the task set.’  
Sure enough, only one person in the class raised their hand._ _

* * *

 

__Evans’ hand quivered slightly as she held it in the air. Everyone looked over at her, pity etched into their faces – no-one wanted to feel the wrath of McGonagall. Sure enough, the middle-aged witch’s nostrils flared alarmingly – a dangerous sign._ _

__‘Miss Evans, first of all you stroll into my classroom twenty three minutes late and then you neglect to even present your homework to me. Do you think you are above the rules of the school?_ _

__‘I’m sorry, Professor, I tried-’_ _

__‘Tried isn’t good enough if nothing gets done, Miss Evans.’_ _

__Evans flushed deep red at this. James felt a rush of irritation; did McGonagall really not see how bloody exhausted Evans looked? He opened his mouth to say something but felt a grip on his arm. He looked away from Evans to look at Sirius._ _

__‘Leave it Prongs,’ Padfoot warned ‘you don’t need to get in shit with McGonagall so close to the full moon.’_ _

__James rolled his eyes but said nothing as the Professor laid into Evans. By the time the lecture was finished, Evans had lost a further 20 points from Gryffindor and gained a detention as well. Despite McGonagall’s harsh words, the punishment could have been a lot worse. Indeed, the elder witch was watching the younger with a slightly concerned expression on her face.  
When the lesson ended, Evans began to pack up her things slowly. James moved forward to stand in front of her._ _

__‘You alright, Evans?’ He asked ‘McGonagall can be a right bitch sometimes.’_ _

__She glared at him, ‘I’m fine, Potter. I think I can handle one little detention without freaking out.’_ _

__‘You seemed a little freaked out about it last night,’ he said innocently._ _

__‘Last night I’d just spent four hours writing the bloody essay.’_ _

__He grinned at that, ‘Yeah I remember, you’ve still got that little splotch of ink on your nose by the way.’_ _

__Evans’ hand went up to her face instinctively but then dropped back down to her side at the look on James’ face._ _

__‘Don’t worry Evans,’ he continued, ‘you don’t need to make an effort with me. I like a girl who doesn’t worry too much about how she looks.’_ _

__‘You like any girl within a five mile radius.’ She retorted._ _

__‘Nah,’ he dismissed with a smile, ‘you’re the only girl for me, Evans.’_ _

__She just rolled her eyes at that. Lily watched James swagger confidently away from her, laughing loudly with Black. Remus Lupin came up just behind them, tucking away a book into his bag. Last was Peter Pettigrew, scurrying to catch up with his best friends._ _


	3. A Rather Unfortunate Snowball

Lily sped across the grounds, shivering. There had been no time to grab a warm cloak that morning and, sure enough, it had begun to snow profusely as she made her way to greenhouse three for Herbology. As the weather worsened, Lily dipped her head and ploughed through the fast-setting snow as quickly as she could without looking up. Her stomach grumbled and she thought longingly about the breakfast she had missed that morning. _‘I’d kill for a slice of bacon,’_ she thought miserably, _‘or a bowl of porridge with honey and-’_ Her thoughts were cut short as she smashed straight into something huge, brown and very solid.

Lily felt the ground slip from under her and she fell backwards gracelessly. Quickly, a huge moleskin covered hand reached out and grabbed her by the elbow, stopping her from landing in a crumpled heap in the snow. Looking up, Lily recognised the huge, friendly face of Rubeus Hagrid – the assistant groundskeeper of Hogwarts. His whole face was covered in a thick black beard, but she could see his kind beetle-black eyes looking down at her in concern.

‘Sorry ‘bout that’ he smiled, pulling her upright with his dustbin lid-sized hands. ‘Didn’t see yeh down there.’

Lily grinned. Most people were scared of the gigantic gamekeeper’s assistant – with good reason. Hagrid was twice as tall as most of the students at Hogwarts and at least three times as wide. However, in reality Lily knew that he would never harm a fly – his gigantic shape was filled with a huge heart.

‘That’s alright, Hagrid,’ she laughed, ‘how are you?’

‘Oh, I’m alrigh’ Lily, I’ve been growin’ all the sprouts for the school’s Christmas dinner.’ He puffed his chest out proudly, ‘Dumbledore reckons I can handle it meself this year.’

‘Oh really?’

‘You bet. Great man, Dumbledore, great man! Anyway, I bes’ be off – lots to do! Why don’t yeh come over for tea this Friday? Tell me all about how things are goin’ down at the school.’

Lily laughed again, ‘I’d love to.’ She replied.

Hagrid smiled before trudging off through the snow, knocking students aside with a wave of one huge gloved hand.

Lily moved on, feeling slightly better than she had before after her conversation with the gentle giant. She rushed into Herbology, shaking flecks of snow from her auburn hair.

Lily barely had time to think for the rest of the lesson; they were repotting Venomous Tentacula – a dangerous job that required a lot of concentration.

* * *

 

When the lesson finished, Lily once again trudged out into the snowy grounds of Hogwarts. The blizzard was really coming down now and Lily pulled her robes more tightly around herself as she made her way up to the castle, where she usually met her friends.

Suddenly, a snowball came flying out of no-where and her squarely in the back of the head, knocking her forwards onto the ground. Standing up and whirling around, Lily suddenly came face to face with Joshua Wilkes, an ugly seventh year Slytherin boy.

‘Watch it, mudblood,’ he sneered, pushing Lily backwards as she tried to regain her footing.

Lily pulled out her want furiously and pointed it at Wilkes. ‘Back the fuck off Wilkes,’ she warned angrily.

‘Why? What’re you gonna do, exactly?’ he replied.

‘I’ll hex your face off, how about that?’

‘Now, now Evans,’ came a cool voice from behind them, ‘one shouldn’t make promises that one can’t keep.’

Whipping around, Lily caught sight of Lucius Malfoy, another seventh year prefect. Behind him came Bellatrix Black, Evan Rosier and, trailing behind them, Severus.

Bellatrix stared at Lily through hooded eyes. ‘Look at the filthy mudblood,’ she cackled, ‘standing there holding out her wand like it’ll do her any good. Can you even do magic, mudblood? I bet you’re not even a real witch.’

‘Shall we find out?’ grinned Wilkes, raising his wand.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. ‘Five against one? That hardly seems fair Joshua.’ But he was smiling.

Lily raised her wand again pointing it straight at Malfoy’s face. No-one moved for a moment, all eyes were on Lily – waiting for her to make the first move. Her eyes roamed over the group, taking them in, wondering how many of the gits she could hit before someone cursed her. Malfoy looked calm but she knew he was all talk – too much of a coward to really do anything when it came down to it. However, there was a manic glint in Bellatrix’s eyes that Lily didn’t like very much; that girl had always been unstable.

Finally, Lily’s eyes came to rest on Severus. He was the only one who had not yet taken out his wand. His long hair flopped over his eyes and his expression was one of uncertainty – fear. He looked up suddenly and met Lily’s eyes. She raised her eyebrows, phrasing the question that was on her mind: _‘are you going to let this happen?’_ Sev held her gaze for a second more but then his eyes dropped; he slunk back into the group. Lily felt her lip curl. _Fine._

‘Go on then, mudblood.’ Bellatrix taunted.

Lily seemed to falter. Her wand arm lowered slightly and she sighed.

Bellatrix wore a triumphant smile. ‘Just as I expected, the mudblood can’t even perform a single curse.’

Suddenly a blast of light erupted from the end of Lily’s wand. ‘ _Flipendo!’_ she screamed. Bellatrix was thrown backwards with the force of the jinx, landing in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Lily smiled grimly but her victory was short-lived. From all around her came the sounds of various Slytherin hexes being thrown. She ducked quickly to avoid the spells and then fired off a few more curses, allowing herself a self-satisfied laugh as she caught Rosier full in the face with a bat-bogey hex. Looking up, she saw that Wilkes had attempted a conjunctivitis curse but had missed and hit Malfoy who was now jumping around clutching his face in agony. _‘Two down, three to go.’_ Lily thought grimly.

She stood up, raising her wand again as she moved towards where Bellatrix was beginning to get to her feet. However, before she could utter a single word, someone grabbed her from behind and held her arms behind her back. Lily’s wand clattered to the ground.

Craning her neck, Lily saw that it was Wilkes who had snuck up behind her.

_‘Fucking spectacular.’_ She thought bitterly.

Bellatrix rose to her feet unsteadily, collecting her own wand from the ground as she went. Her eyes burned with anger as she stalked over to where Lily struggled against Wilkes’ hold.

‘The little mudblood knows how to play!’ She shrieked hysterically.

Lily spat at her.

‘You bitch!’ Bellatrix screeched, flourishing her wand ready to attack.

‘Stop.’ Severus’ quiet voice pierced the momentary silence.

Bellatrix’s head snapped round to where Sev was standing, half-hidden, on the side-lines of the fight.

‘Stop?’ her voice echoed dangerously.

Lily watched as Sev moved forwards into plain view, stepping swiftly in front of Bellatrix’s wand arm.

‘Yes, stop.’

‘And why should I do that?’

Severus turned his head slightly to give Lily a fleeting glance. He looked forlorn, his black hair sprinkled with snow, his pasty skin looking even paler than normal. He seemed to steel himself.

‘She – the mudblood – she isn’t worth you getting in trouble, Bella.’

Bellatrix raised her eyebrows slightly. ‘Do I look like I care about getting in trouble?’

‘You don’t want to get expelled-‘

_‘You don’t want to get expelled.’_ She mimicked cruelly. ‘Don’t worry, Severus, I don’t intend to kill her. No, I’m just going to teach the bitch a little lesson.’

‘Wha-‘ Severus began, but before he could finish his question, Bellatrix swept him out of the way with her arm and raised her wand a final time, grinning nastily.

_‘Crucio’_ Bellatrix yelled and the world seemed to explode.


	4. To Start a War

James and Remus wandered out of the greenhouses five minutes after everyone else had already left; Professor Sprout had held them at trowel-point, forcing them to help her clear up every last speck of soil from the workbenches.

‘We don’t want the mandrakes getting twitchy over it,’ she had warned dangerously ‘they’re already turning surly, and you know what they’re like.’

James did not tell her that he wasn’t particularly interested in the behavioural patterns of mandrakes.

Remus rushed ahead slightly, his head bowed against the swirling snow. James caught up with him quickly, ‘you alright Moony?’ he asked, ‘you seem a little bit on edge.’

Remus sighed, ‘yeah I’m fine, it’s just-’

‘Just what?’

‘I can feel the full moon creeping up.’

James felt a rush of sympathy for his best friend. Quite honestly, Remus looked like utter shit. He was pale and unshaven; he hadn’t bothered to cut his hair in the last few weeks and it was beginning to look unkempt. This combined with his patched, second-hand clothes (Remus’ family wasn’t the richest) and the small scars that littered his skin, Remus could almost have been mistaken for a younger Mundungus Fletcher.

Moony always began to look like this as the full moon drew nearer. His condition took its toll.

‘We’ll all be there-’ James began to say but Remus cut him off.

‘What’s going on over there?’

James followed Remus’ gaze to where a large group was forming; they all seemed to be watching something, shouting their disapproval.

James raised his eyebrows, ‘dunno, mate. Let’s go find out.’

-

Lily jolted her leg upwards as hard as she could, slamming her foot into Wilkes’ unprotected groin. With a shriek of agony, he released her and she fell to the floor just in time to avoid the curse that Bellatrix had just aimed her way.

Lily felt fury course through her whole body as she grabbed her wand and straightened up. She was vaguely aware of a large group forming around the two of them. Bellatrix danced backwards slightly; she seemed shocked at her own nerve, like she couldn’t believe that she had used the unforgivable curse on another person. Lily had no doubt that the bitch had used it before – probably on harmless puppy dogs. However, this time the spell had simply hit the castle wall, metres away from where Bellatrix had been aiming – Lily’s face.

‘Looks like you could use some target practice, bitch.’ Lily spat, holding her wand out in front of her.

‘I’ll bear that in mind, mudblood.’ Bellatrix snarled in reply.

The two girls wasted no time. _‘Stupefy!’_ Lily screamed at the same moment Bella cried _‘Crucio!’_ once more.

The spells collided in mid-air.  

-

The yelling got much louder as James and Remus approached the group. James could barely see anything over the heads of the many students who had crowded round in a circle. Remus tapped James on the shoulder and pointed wordlessly to the castle doors. He turned round just in time to see Sirius burst through them, Peter at his heels.

James grabbed his best friend by the shoulder. ‘Padfoot, what the hell is going on?’

‘Fight.’ Sirius explained shortly, as they wrestled their way through the crowd of spectators. ‘Wormtail and I saw it through the windows upstairs.’

‘Excellent,’ James grinned but, seeing the look on Sirius’ face, his smile died quickly. ‘Who is it?’

‘My wannabe death eater cousin Bellatrix and-’

But James didn’t need to hear the rest of that sentence. They had finally fought their way to the front of the group and had a clear view of exactly what was happening. James watched dumbfounded as the two girls in front of him battled ferociously, their wands flashing like sabres.

_‘Evans?’_ James yelled incredulously as the redhead whirled around and aimed a well-placed curse at Bellatrix’s chest. Unfortunately, the crazed Slytherin deflected the spell easily and sent a counter curse flying back almost a second later.

Evans was an impressive fighter. She had a unique style; where most wizards would use their wands to protect them, Evans would use her body. She would duck and twist, allowing jinxes to fly harmlessly past her while sending another three shooting out of the end of her wand. Bellatrix’s spells could never quite seem to catch her (a fact that seemed to infuriate the bitch). In short, she fought like a wizard and defended herself like a muggle.

James was pleased to see that Evans had already taken out Wilkes, who had fallen to the ground in a crumpled heap clutching his balls. He grinned; she’d kicked the bugger where it hurt. However, Rosier seemed to have recovered from whatever Evans had hit him with and had begun advancing towards the two witches murderously.

James sighed. _‘The things I do for love.’_ He thought, drawing his wand from his robes.

-

Lily was beginning to tire. Bellatrix was a strong witch; she knew more spells than Lily and was much more ruthless in her attacks. However, Lily was angrier.

_‘I’m tired of being called a mublood!’_ She thought.

She threw a jinx at Bellatrix

_‘I’m tired of them thinking they’re better than me!’_

A hex.

_‘I’m tired of constantly having to prove I’m worth something!’_

A curse.

The final spell hit Bellatrix in the face and gouged a deep mark into one of her high cheekbones but she barely seemed to notice. Lily ducked low and, out of the corner of her eye, saw Rosier straighten up. He raised his wand. Lily knew then that she was going to lose.

Suddenly a flash of light erupted from behind Lily and Rosier fell to the floor, his limbs locked in a full body-bind curse. James appeared instantly beside her, firing spells at the Slytherins.

‘Alright Evans.’ He grinned.

She laughed disbelievingly.

However, her laughter was short lived. Taking advantage of her momentary lack of concentration, Bellatrix sent a hex flying through Lily’s arms, hitting her squarely in the chest.

-

James yelled out as Evans’ feet were lifted from the floor; she flew backwards alarmingly fast, smashing into the castle wall before falling to the ground motionless.

Whipping round, James saw that Sirius was already beside him, duelling fiercely with Bellatrix. Remus was working on binding a dazed Wilkes to a still recumbent Rosier and Peter was… cowering.

‘Best friends with mudbloods and blood traitor scum are we now, Sirius?’ Bellatrix shrieked. ‘If you mix with the scum, don’t expect to turn out any better than them!’

‘I’d rather stick with them than you and your death eater pals, Bella!’ Sirius retorted angrily.

‘Is that meant to offend me?’ she replied incredulously ‘I’d be honoured to call myself one of them, and so should-‘

‘Shut up!’ Sirius roared, brandishing his wand furiously.

‘What are you gonna do, Sirius? You don’t have the-‘

‘STOP THIS NONSENSE AT ONCE!’ a booming voice swept towards them, seeming to silence even the howling wind.

The tall, slender figure of Albus Dumbledore advanced towards them. He carved a path through the students, who scurried out of his way as fast as they could. Behind him came Professor McGonagall, looking absolutely livid, and the tiny figure of the young Professor Flitwick.

Sirius quickly dropped his wand but Bella kept hers out, pointed straight at her cousin.

‘Put your wand away immediately, Miss Black!’ Professor McGonagall snapped.

Dumbledore said nothing at first, surveying the scene with a sweep of his ice-blue eyes.

‘Professor Flitwick,’ he said quietly, ‘please go up to the hospital wing and inform Madam Pomfrey that she is needed.’ The Professor nodded shortly and sped off without a word.

Turning back towards them, Dumbledore spoke simply: ‘All those included in this event, you know who you are, will go up to my office and wait for me there.’

James glanced over to where Evans was still lying in a crumpled heap. ‘P-Professor?’ he murmered, ‘I’m worried – I mean I think that Evans – _Lily_ might be badly hurt.’

Dumbledore peered kindly at James over his half-moon spectacles. ‘Why do you think I called for Madam Pomfrey, Mr Potter?’

‘Oh I- I thought maybe Wilkes…’ he trailed off.

‘Mr Wilkes may also be in need of medical attention.’ With this, Dumbledore turned away, ending the conversation. However, James had the distinct feeling that he had seem a small smile playing around the mouth of the strange, old professor.


End file.
